Ireland qualify for ICC World Twenty20 2014

Team captains, Sana Mir and Shashikala Siriwardene, with the tournament trophy.

Ireland qualified for the ICC World Twenty20 2014 as there was a tense finale to the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier in Dublin as it went down to the final ball, with Ireland beating the Netherlands by 2 runs.

With play washed out in the Trophy Final and the 3rd/4th Shield play-off, play finally began at 1445 as the ground staff at YMCA did an outstanding job to get the Trophy 3rd/4th play-off underway. Isobel Joyce (72 not out) and Clare Shillington (6) opened the batting for Ireland, they lost any early wicket as Shillington cut the ball, taking a little edge and Veringmeier did the rest behind the stumps. Isobel Joyce put in a captain’s performance scoring 72 runs not out with 6 fours and batted throughout the Ireland’s innings.

Kim Garth (31) joined her at the crease and took the attack to the Dutch bowlers with a fantastic innings, with boundaries and great running between the wickets both kept the score ticking over. Garth was then out caught lbw by Bennett, an 80 run partnership with the captain, leaving Ireland on 87 runs for 2 wickets.

Cecelia Joyce (8) came to the crease and was back to the pavilion in no time as she made a good connection with a Kornet delivery and picked out Rambaldo at short mid-wicket. Waldron (3) and Delany (6) were the other wickets to fall, as Ireland finished on 136 runs for 5 wickets, the pick of the Dutch bowlers was Bratt who got 2 wickets for 24 runs.

The Netherlands reply got off to a slow start with Ireland chasing down every ball, before Miranda Veringmeier (3) was bowled out by McCarthy. Tessa van der Gun (20) hit the ball high in the air to cover sweeper and Cecelia Joyce caught it at the second attempt.

As the clouds closed in around YMCA everyone’s eyes was on Duckworth Lewis after the fifth over had been played. Rambaldo (58 not out) and Siegers (29) looked for every scoring opportunity and were putting the Dutch into a strong position.

However, in the fifteenth over there a was mix up between the batters and Siegers could not get back into her ground and was run out, with this the balance tipped slightly back into Ireland’s favour.

Rambaldo and Bratt (12) tried every attempt to chase down the total, with every over passing the run rate increased and the Irish bowlers kept it tight.

The Dutch kept plugging away and going into the last over they needed 12 runs, it was a nail-biting end, needing 3 from the last ball. Delany bowled to Braat and the the ball was hit to long-on, needing three to tie, Rambaldo kept running and Braat didn’t, the ball was thrown in to the keepers end and the bails were taken off by Waldron.

This sparked celebrations by Ireland as they won by 2 runs and the devastated Dutch could only look on, Rambaldo batted excellently for her 58 runs including 3 fours, but it will be Ireland who travel to Bangladesh for the ICC World Twenty20 2014.

The heavy overnight rain fell which made the pitches at Merrion and YMCA unplayable in the morning and both matches were abandoned. The Pakistan v Sri Lanka match was abandoned and therefore the trophy was shared, Sri Lanka finish above Pakistan in the rankings due to net run rate as both teams had won an equal amount of matches throughout the tournament.

The Shield 3rd/4th play-off between Japan and Canada was abandoned due to a wet outfield, Canada finished ahead of Japan as they had won more matches.

The Player of the Tournament was named as Pakistan’s Bismah Maroof, she performed excellently throughout the tournament and thoroughly deserved the award.